There are some things that often go unsaid, words that should be spoken but are left hanging in some unvoiced awareness. These feelings are addressed in Walk the Moon’s most personal album Talking is Hard. Each song is a thread of consciousness, a layer of unsaid truth covered by song. It is our job to unveil these feelings. I am not very surprised by this album on first impression–clichéd lyrics first catch my attention. However, these lyrics all seem to masterfully progress the motif of speech, as shown in “Come Under the Covers,” when Nicholas Petricca sings, “Tiptoe / Down the hall from where you live / These floors are talkative.” In these lines, the floorboards are talking, not the person walking. Even more powerful are the lines from “Portugal,” “You grow up when I’m not looking / We grow apart without knowing / And all of a sudden I’m leaving.” These lyrics show how the unspoken can be powerful enough to tear two lovers apart. In “Avalanche,” Petricca sings, “One glance and the avalanche drops / One look and my heartbeat stops.” Raw emotion has the power to start an avalanche or stop a heart.

This album conveys personal feelings in very subtle ways. It’s remarkable how a song can seem so vague, yet leave you with deep insight into the band’s psyche. A perfect example is “Down In The Dumps,” which is about the human tendency to let others bring us down. Yet the band adds a layer of personal context in the lines, “You can throw all the fitz and the tantrums you want / But I won’t let you bring, bring me back down.” This is a clear reference to the indie pop band, Fitz and the Tantrums. Petricca reveals how competition aims to bring them down, but only acts as motivation. He continues, “So I’ll walk that tightrope wire / But what am I really made of?” This allusion to their hit “Tightrope,” shows how the band is determined to set new personal records. A good album should leave the listener with something to think about–a catchy verse, creative phrase, or truth about the human condition. Walk the Moon does something much more powerful: the band leaves us with intimate pieces of its members. They carry us to the conclusion that talking is hard.